1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet stacking device that stacks and cools sheets on which images are recorded and which are subjected to heating and drying processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In ink jet printing where processing is performed at high speed, heating and drying processing is performed on sheets using hot air, an infrared heater, a UV lamp, or the like in order to dry the sheets. However, when the temperature of stacked sheets is high, printed images adhere to adjacent sheets due to the weight of the sheets. For this reason, image defects, such as voids and offsets, that is, so-called blocking may occur.
JP2007-76864A discloses an image forming apparatus that includes cooling means for blowing air to sheets loaded on sheet loading means.
JP2011-020376A discloses an image forming apparatus that blows air to the side surface of a sheet bundle from a lower portion of the sheet bundle to an upper portion thereof to form gaps between the respective sheets and cool the sheets. In this image forming apparatus, a top plate is disposed on sheets and covers the sheets in order to prevent the sheets from being flipped during the blowing of air.
JP2012-30913A discloses an image forming apparatus that separates stacked sheets into sheet bundles by separation members and blows air to the separated sheet bundles.